Admin vs User Config

After 'exploring' my new Win7 system for quite a while, I took the advice of many and created a separate Administrator logon. I am finding that this is another of many Win7 User-Strait-Jackets that will trash my productivity.

I need what we used to have with Windows: Admin privileges on my user logon.

Specifically, I either need the same config (applications, preferences, etc) on the Admin logon so I can use it all the time, -or- to have a way to turn-on Admin privileges painlessly on my user logon when needed.

Is there any way to establish symmetry between config on my user and Admin logons?

Thx,
Puddin'

I am with LogicEarth on this one!

Unlink most folks, I *love* the UAC! It has stopped more viruses for me, and the clients I support. It really does a good job, but you must be aware of what's going on and not just casually *click* dialog boxes.

I run my UAC all the way on, and have stopped at least 1 dozen viruses in the past couple of months. I was doing research on some concepts and was looking for virus sites... found em, and UAC worked perfectly to stop 95% of the attacks! The others were a different contagion method and the AV (MS Security Essentials) caught them no prob.

Turn up that UAC, and pay attention, and you are much safer than lots of systems.

HTH

logicearth said:

Puddin Man said:

... to have a way to turn-on Admin privileges painlessly on my user logon when needed...

That would be what UAC is for. Have an account part of the Administrators group with UAC on. This lets everything run as a Standard User. When you need administrative power you right-click on a shortcut > Run as Admin. Or if you searched though the start menu use the hot key CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER.

Not certain I understand ...

Are you saying that, if I follow your instructions, I should never (ever, ever) need to
logon to the Admin account?

Never, ever, ever?? No exceptions???

P

logicearth said:

(I have enabled it and used it a few times only to modify some files for my user account that can not be while logged into my account.)

You had to logon to Admin to modify some files? Why couldn't you mod them running your user account?

Is there any way to replicate all personal settings (desktop, applications, etc) associated with the user account onto the Admin account?

In Windows 7 there are accounts of the Administrators group and then there is the (hidden by default) the Administrator account. Under normal operation, the hidden account is not necessary. When running under an account that belongs to the Administrators group, you are capable of doing pretty much everything with the system - install software, modify Windows settings, see hidden files, etc. A lot of these operations will have to be confirmed through UAC, as a security measure. Alternatively, some programs can be run "as administrator" to avoid the UAC prompts. This might be useful with some installers or scripts, provided you trust their origin.

At the same time, there are some files which are locked by the system while the system is operating. This is the reason, why a restart is needed after some Windows updates, for example. In the same way, certain files related to a given user account are locked while this account is active, i.e. you would not be able to modify them from that account. You would be able to do this from another account, and that's what logicearth was talking about. I am not sure what exactly was he doing, therefore I would hesitate to say that the same operation could have been performed from another account of the Administrators group, but more often then not this is the case.

The hidden Administrator account is helpful when there is something wrong with the system and repairs are needed. Otherwise, I would recommend staying away from it, there is no performance gain or any other advantage in using it, while security risks are quite substantial.

In 99.9% of cases, you will never need to log on to the administrator account. Unless you're into really heavy duty customizing and tweaking, (ie; taking ownership of a system file for modification) the administrator account need never be logged on. Using the Admin. account only can be risky.

logicearth said:

Because they are in use while logged. I mostly just needed to delete a few temporary files. I could have created a new account to do it, but I only turned it on to accomplish a few operations then disabled it again.

Were these perhaps open files associated with your user logon (Profile)? Why didn't the system just que up the delete's for the next boot-up or similar?

I'd appreciate it if someone could address the following question:
Is there any way to replicate all personal settings (desktop, applications, etc) associated with the user account onto the Admin account?